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Amplifying Perceptions: How JetBlue Uses Twitter to Drive Engagement and Satisfaction M-336 p. 2approximately 20 notable Twitter users. This led to many new followers and expanded thecompany’s following from about 100,000 to 1 million by August 2009. By June 2010,approximately 1 percent of these had ceased to tune in to JetBlue on Twitter.Building the Brand Through EngagementWhile many JetBlue enthusiasts originally followed the company’s tweets because they hadadmiration for the brand, the company also wanted to reach those people who were not yetcustomers. Johnston commented that, “Twitter gives this audience a chance to experience usbefore they’re even on one of our planes.” For both the loyal customers and the potentialcustomers, Twitter was a medium for engagement and making the brand familiar, as Johnstonexplained: We are humanizing the brand which is very appealing to our customers. We acknowledge that we love their feedback and we love hearing from them, because, together, we can build a better experience for everybody. Our tweeting is about being honest and transparent and accepting of people’s differences and senses of humor. That’s what turns somebody who doesn’t know the brand into an advocate.It was with this voice that JetBlue and the entire social media team spoke to the public.Managing JetBlue’s voice was tantamount to managing the brand. “JetBlue,” Johnston said,“wanted to show empathy and make sure that humanity is always expressed and is alwayspresent.”Twitter vs. FacebookJetBlue began with Twitter before becoming active on Facebook because Twitter was moremobile-friendly. While Facebook’s mobility applications had improved, Twitter gave JetBluethe opportunity to directly engage with users. Customers on Twitter were likely to be talkingabout a product while in the process of utilizing that product. As Johnston explained, “Ourcustomers are in the airport talking about JetBlue. You don’t necessarily see that on Facebook.”Further, JetBlue felt that content creation was easier on Twitter because the company could comeup with content just by responding to others’ comments. Johnston made the analogy that usingFacebook was like keeping a blog, while Twitter allowed you to jump into conversations ratherthan direct or host a conversation.TWITTER AS A VEHICLE FOR PROMOTIONSBy 2009, the company started to see several of its followers specifically request information onsales and special deals. Conscious of the value of having a place to converse with customerswho “don’t want to be sold, don’t want to be marketed to, and don’t want to hear promotionallingo,” Johnston and his team opened a second Twitter account, “JetBlue Cheeps,” devoted tolast-minute fare sales.

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Amplifying Perceptions: How JetBlue Uses Twitter to Drive Engagement and Satisfaction M-336 p. 3“All You Can Jet” BuffetThough JetBlue Cheaps was a new Twitter account, the company’s promotion in the summer of2009 gave it the ability to take advantage of an asset base that the company owned but wasunable to capitalize on before. For one week, JetBlue ran a promotion known as the “All YouCan Jet” (AYCJ). It was a 30-day offer which allowed customers to buy one ticket for $599 andfly as many routes as they wanted for 30 days (Sept 8 to Oct 8, 2009).SpendRather than advertising this promotion in traditional media, JetBlue used its Twitter account tospread the word. The cost for advertising through this medium was essentially free.ReachJetBlue had allocated a limited number of tickets for the promotion. The pass was on sale foralmost a week and sold out 48 hours earlier than the company had allotted for the purchaseperiod. The company had to shut down the promotion one week early. Everyone at thecompany was elated; JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said, “Sales of the pass have reallyexceeded all our expectations.” 3Beyond selling tickets, however, within 7 hours of the AYCJ announcement, the JetBlue schemehad prompted an estimated 10 million blog references and received 31 million search enginequeries. JetBlue’s web site also sustained a 700 percent increase in traffic in the days followingthe announcement. 4While the announcement of AYCJ was originally made on Twitter, JetBlue got the attention oftraditional media without having to spend any money in these channels. As MSNBC said, “Ifyou haven’t heard about JetBlue’s $599 AYCJ pass … you haven’t been paying attention.”5Even one week after the promotion was tweeted, it was still grabbing headlines and mentions onlocal television stations, travel websites, newspapers and blogs, including NBC’s Today Showand celebrity blogger Perez Hilton’s blog. 6ImpactEven prior to the AYCJ announcement, JetBlue had a strong connection with its customers. Itsmillion-plus followers had made it one of the most widely followed non-media corporation onTwitter. Those followers shared the news of JetBlue’s fire sale with their social networks. Eventhough the promotion had many positive aspects for JetBlue, customers felt like they were“getting the better end of a massively lopsided deal,” and shared the news of their good fortunewith others. 73 Ben Mutzabaugh, “JetBlue’s ‘All You Can Jet’ Pass Sells Out,” USA Today, August 20, 2009,http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-08-19-jetblue-suspends-all-you-can-jet-sale_N.htm, (April 28, 2010).4 Eric Barkin, “Jetting to Greener Pastures,” Speech Technology, April 6, 2010,http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Editorial/Magazine-Features/Jetting-to-Greener-Pastures-66137.aspx (April29, 2010).5 Barkin, op. cit.6 Mutzabaugh, op. cit.7 Barkin, op. cit.

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Amplifying Perceptions: How JetBlue Uses Twitter to Drive Engagement and Satisfaction M-336 p. 4Further, since JetBlue launched AYCJ right after announcing four new destinations, theexcitement brought JetBlue flyers to the company’s site where they learned about these newservices. JetBlue was able to influence a much larger group than simply those customers whobought the AYCJ promotion. While the company experienced a burst of initial traffic to its site,most visitors never ended up buying an AYCJ pass. 8The speed at which customers opted in to AYCJ took JetBlue by surprise, but even moreastonishing were the responses the company received. Customers were ecstatic. People whowere not yet on Twitter when they purchased an “All You Can Jet” pass soon signed up for theservice. They started tweeting about where they went and what they did, sharing theirexperiences as they were flying from destination to destination.A few of the AYCJ customers even became local celebrities. When these flyers arrived at a newcity, the local news media would welcome them as rock stars. Furthermore, these flyers startedto connect with each other on Twitter.David Barger, JetBlue’s chief executive officer, called AYCJ the airline’s most successfulpromotion in the company’s history. 9 The company did not offer details about the profits fromAYCJ due to the competitive nature of the airline industry. However, JetBlue posted profits of$15 million in the third quarter (ending 9/30/09) after losing $4 million during the same quarterin the previous year. Further, JetBlue estimated that, prior to the promotion, up to 50 percent ofthe AYCJ users had not been members of its frequent flyer program. After the promotion ended,TrueBlue hit the 8 million member mark. 10ANNIVERSARY PRESENTSFollowing on the heels of the successful AYCJ promotion, in March 2010, JetBlue gave away1,000 free roundtrip tickets as part of the airline’s ongoing 10th anniversary celebrations duringthat year. The airline announced this on Twitter, together with the three locations where peoplecould pick up tickets, and what they needed to bring (e.g., at one location, they needed to bring abirthday card). All tickets were given away within 20 minutes. 11 The promotion created a frenzyof excitement and garnered even more positive publicity for the airline.(See http://www.youtube.com/user/JetBlueCorpComm#p/u/1/D_Xmkb_QULY for footage offree ticket recipients.)IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICEWhile Twitter enhanced the high level of customer service that JetBlue provided (JetBlue hadwon JD Powers and Associates’ award for customer service for five years in a row), Johnstonstressed that winning the award had “nothing to do with the 10 people on our Twitter team. Ithas everything to do with the crew members who are on the front lines all across the company8 Ibid.9 Barkin, op. cit.10 Barkin, op. cit.11 http://socialmediaatwork.com/2010/03/12/jetblues-twitter-promotion-takes-wing/

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Amplifying Perceptions: How JetBlue Uses Twitter to Drive Engagement and Satisfaction M-336 p. 5and the representatives who are sitting at phones.” The role of the Twitter team was not toaddress customer service issues directly but, instead, connect customers with people who couldspend time addressing specific concerns and make sure customers’ issues were solved. AsJohnston explained, “Our role is not a billboard or a customer service desk but an informationbooth.”Preemptive Customer ServiceThe JetBlue Twitter team was able to serve as the “canary in a coal mine” by instantlyaddressing customer service issues and resolving them. As Johnston explained, “Generally, thecustomer service model is one of recovery. It’s not until a week later that you get an angry e-mail from a customer that you try to work to recover them. If you’re watching what’s going onin a real time medium, you have the opportunity to step in and effect change while they’rehaving issues, while they’re sitting at a gate. That is powerful for us.”For instance, through monitoring blogs and Twitter, JetBlue found out about the community’sfrustration with a company policy that required passengers to pay a bike handling fee even forfolding bikes that could be sent in suitcases (the airline allowed customers to check one bag freeof charge). JetBlue witnessed community buildup around this issue—the customers claimed thepolicy made no sense and suggested different ways to get around paying the fee.JetBlue was able to prevent further customer complaints by finding a solution almostimmediately. Within 24 hours, the communications team had contacted the flight check-indepartment and suggested a solution. This avoided the bike complaint building to a larger issue.This swift resolution actually garnered accolades for JetBlue that personified the company. Theperson who originally complained about the bike handling fee even went back to his onlinecommunity and told his story, explaining: “JetBlue is different. You don’t need to come up with[bogus] excuses to get out of the bike fee. You just need to talk to them. And if it’s [bogus],then they can fix it. So why try to hide the problem rather than just address it?”Twitter highlighted JetBlue’s extraordinary customer service. In early 2010, a JetBlue customerwent through the airport security and left his sunglasses at one of the stations. He tweeted amessage about his mislaid sunglasses. JetBlue, which monitors mentions of its name on the weband Twitter, e-mailed an employee at the customer’s departure gate, who went back to securityand to try to find the glasses—all before the passenger had embarked. JetBlue then tweeted backto the individual and told him they were looking for his glasses Although JetBlue did not recoverthe glasses, social media enabled this personal connection between a consumer and JetBlue.FLYING IN THE AGE OF TWITTEREngagementThe company also searched for mentions of JetBlue and airports where JetBlue flew in order tokeep a pulse on the company and customer sentiment. While this was alarming at first to peoplewho tweeted and then got a mention on JetBlue’s Twitter page, customers did not see JetBlue asstepping out of bounds. Instead, they appreciated that the company was paying attention tothem. As Johnston explained:

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Amplifying Perceptions: How JetBlue Uses Twitter to Drive Engagement and Satisfaction M-336 p. 6 We were one of the first companies to follow customers following us. Most users now feel that if they tweet about a company, the company should be paying attention. This is especially gratifying to us because it means that our theory of being engaged and listening to customers is something that our customers appreciate. Now, they’re waiting for us to follow them, so they can have a conversation.Twitter has changed how JetBlue thinks about corporate communication. Twitter enablesJetBlue to connect with customers in new ways, but more importantly, this new media allows amore a casual conversation with immediate interaction. JetBlue also understands that relying onTwitter carries risks. Twitter amplifies all messages, not just the positive ones. Casualconversations build an expectation of immediate response from the company. JetBlue has alsodiscovered that not all passengers accept immediate, authentic interactions. As Johnstonobserved, “We’ve learned to be careful when determining when to approach a conversation wesee occurring. There’s a very thin line between being helpful as a company―and beingoverbearing.” 1212 http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/jetblue-twitter-customer-service-or-to-spy/